Censorship
Football
Banned Books Week celebrates literature almost lost to censorship for sensitive content. Page 4
UCO Football is finally home for their first game of the season against East Central. Page 8
SEP. 29, 2011 uco360.com twitter.com/uco360
THE VISTA
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA’S student voice since 1903.
Art
RUN SET TO RAISE FUNDS FOR KENYA By Josh Hutton / Staff Writer On Saturday, Oct. 8, The Youth Vision International (TYVI), a nonprofit organization based in Edmond, will host the Edmond 5k Run-4Kids at Mitch Park. “We see running as a good way for people to be fit as well as helping a very important cause,” Benard Manyibe, TYVI founder and director of the 5k, said. TYVI’s mission is to aid young, impoverished people in Africa. Manyibe was born in Kenya. After moving to Ohio to complete graduate work at Bowling Green State University, Manyibe decided to create an organization to help his native country. “I realized I could make a difference in Kenya. We started running in Ohio and were very successful. Recently, we came down here [Edmond]. We will see how it works,” Manyibe said. Manyibe moved TYVI to Edmond in 2009. “There are so many people without school or healthcare in Africa,” he said. “People here can truly make a difference, and it’s a win-win, as we also promote wellness domestically.” This year’s inaugural 5k looks to be the first in a long partnership with the city of Edmond. The funds gathered from the race will go directly to a youth center in Kenya. The funds will benefit healthcare, clean water, and
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UCO ALUMNI FOUNDS DOWNTOWN STUDIO By Ben Luschen / Staff Writer Near the corner of Blackwelder and 16th Street in Oklahoma City, UCO graduate Jerrod Smith and several other artists have created The Society, a community-driven collective art space and a paradise of self-expression. “It’s kind of like Andy Warhol’s Factory without the sex and drugs,” Smith said. Before Smith graduated from UCO in 2007 with an art degree, he fell in love with the idea of creating alongside other people. The idea of The Society was also partly inspired by his time at UCO. “When I went to school we would go to the painting room; we would just hang out in there and put music on and it was just a cool little vibe. This is that on a bigger scale,” Smith said. Smith’s passion for art goes farther back than his time in college, however. He became a professional artist at the age of 15 after selling his first piece. Smith knew he was meant to live life imaginatively from a young age. “I’ve always been drawn to this creative thing. I was always picking up junk and making stuff out of it and sketching and asking weird questions,” Smith said. “I’ve always kind of seen things a little differently.” The very same passion that called Smith to create something out of “junk” as a child propelled him into trying out for the Bravo reality series, “Work of Art: The Next Great Artist” years later. According to Smith, over 15,000 people applied to participate in the show, but only 14 final contestants would be selected. Smith made it as close as the top 30 before he was informed that he would not be com-
Jerrod Smith, a UCO graduate, poses for a photo at The Society in the Plaza District of Oklahoma City, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Vista
peting. “It’s funny, I just got on [the Internet] and looked at the cast and I met four or five of them at the audition, so it’s kind of cool that I was there with those guys and almost ended up on a reality show,” Smith said. “Sarah Jessica Parker co-produces the show, so I got to meet her.” Though Smith will have to settle for watching the premiere of the show on TV, the fact he has not only built an impressive art compound in the upand-coming Plaza District but has assembled his own cast of artists to occupy it is more than an adequate
consolation. “These are some of the best artists in Oklahoma City,” Smith said. “We have a really elite crew going on. We have them cracking away, really doing their thing well.” According to Smith, The Society’s artists feed off each other’s creative energy, which pushes their visions to places they could not have gone alone. Smith has grown so warm to the idea, the alternative seems cold and foreign. “Imagine working in your bedroom in the corner,” he said. “How exciting is that?”
Though not everyone can be an instudio artist at The Society, the community is not only welcome, but encouraged to participate. “Basically the idea is if a community member has a creative idea that they want to achieve but they’re not quite sure how to achieve it, we can help give them the means to do that,” Smith said. The Society’s goal is to promote all creative endeavors, not just visual art. They currently have plans of hosting a fashion show, an idea that was
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Campus Economy
STUDY REVEALS LACK OF OFFENSE TO SLURS “When I read internet news it is interesting to me to read the comments below the article. They are A survey of 14-24 year olds conducted Aug. 18 to Aug. 31: often hate filled messages, knee When you browse Facebook, MySpace or other social jerk and unthoughtful.” networking sites, how often do you see or hear people The anonymous nature of onusing discriminatory language or images? line message boards and other Often: Sometimes: Rarely: Never: I don’t use Refused: internet forms has often been 22% 30% 25% 12% social net- 1% linked to the spreading use of such working sites: terms among young people. Randi 11% Zuckerburg, Facebook’s Marketing Director and sister of the social net. working site’s famous co-founder Mark Zuckerburg, has often stated her belief that internet users need SOURCE: AP-MTV poll AP to start being accountable. “I think anonymity on the In“When you’retoon campus and on discrimination By ABUSE Ben Luschen / Staff Writer Chart shows POLL 092011: reponse survey question ternet has to go away,” she said stuff, you’reAbuse; surrounded by everyonline; 2c x 3 inches; with BC--Poll:Online FD; ETA 5 p.m. during a social media According to a recent Associated one and everything so you kind summit hosted Press-MTV poll, teenagers and colEditor’s Note: It is mandatory to include all of get numb by Marie Claire lege age students are more likely to to stuffsources that accompany this graphic when magazine. “Peonot be offended by, and to use, raclike that,”repurposing or editing it for publication ple behave a ist and sexist slurs, especially while Smith said. lot better when on the internet. “It doesn’t they have their real names down. Half the poll’s participants, who really mat… I think people hide behind anoranged in age between 14 and 24, ter. I’m kind of the type where nymity and they feel like they can said they encounter racist and sexwords shouldn’t hurt your feelings say whatever they want behind ist slurs on a regular basis, and most that much. It’s just words.” closed doors.” of them claim to not be offended by Kole Kleeman, a professor of MeAccording to Kleeman, other their use. dia Studies at UCO, also was unsurstudies have backed up ZuckerJeremy Parker, a senior at UCO, prised by the findings of the poll. burg’ s claims. was not taken aback by the poll’s “I read the [AP] article and it “I do think the research has findings. doesn’t surprise me,” Kleeman said, shown that communication over
Homecoming Events This Weekend Thursday 11:00 a.m. - Lunch on the Lake (Broncho Lake) Thursday 4:30 p.m. - Talent Show (Constitution Hall) Friday 6:00 p.m. - Cheer & Dance Competition (Hamilton) Saturday 10:00 a.m. - Homecoming Parade Saturday 12:00 p.m. - Tailgate Party (Outside Wantland) Saturday 2:00 p.m. - Football Game (Wantland Stadium)
WEATHER
Discrimination in social media
social media is much less than the expected decorum of social interaction. By that I mean
face-to-face interaction with all the conditions of appropriacy of polite speech. I think in an age of instaneity of communication that people are much more likely to say what they wouldn’t say in public,” Kleeman said. Parker agrees that the internet does help people feel safer when they use racial and sexist slurs online. “If you can call somebody and name and not have to actually deal with them afterwards, it makes it a lot easier, I’m sure,” he said.
Most respondents to the survey said the person or group you’re addressing when using a slur is vital to whether or
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not it can be classified as offensive. Ash Khan, former UCO Student Body Vice President and someone who is involved with UCO’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, also says he has witnessed this trend. “It’s weird. If you’re called it by one of your friends or someone who’s close to your same race, usually people my age don’t care. But if you’re using it outside that small range of people, they flip out,” Khan said. In the past, Diversity and Inclusion has hosted a “Tunnel of Oppression” which helps other realize the effects slurs, bullying, and different types of discrimination, including racism, homophobia, sexism, abelism, and others. The office, which was formerly known as Multicultural Student Sevices, continues to promote various cultural awareness activities. Though Khan admits that the perspective many young people have on the effect of different types of slurs on others, he says there should still be a place for social etiquette in public places. “Honestly, differences between people is what brings people together, and plus you should know how to address people in public.”
DID YOU KNOW? The first Monopoly was based on real streets and locations around Atlantic City.
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